The Legal Status Of China’s Accession Protocol In WTO

Researches on WTO Accession Protocol(AP), especially China’s Accession Protocol and its commitments are countless. In recent years, along with the bad news that China lost most cases in WTO Dispute Settlement Body(DSB), more and more scholars, including domestic and abroad, are reviewing China’s AP. The dissertation tries to analyze the legal status of China’s AP in WTO, too. However, most of the researches nowadays focus on case study and clause interpretation, while neglecting the fact that the articles of China’s AP has added to and diminished the rights and obligations provided in WTO agreements, and how these articles are binding under international law. The dissertation intends to begin with the applicable law in DSB, which is a question being paid less attention to. Then the dissertation will conclude that the applicable laws in DSB is specific, and AP cannot be applied in DSB. This is the fundamental cause of dissatisfaction to DSB judgments. But the dissertation goes further, it will explore evidences in legislative intent, text version and legal system to explain why AP can be applied in DSB. Therefor, it is reasonable to apply AP in DSB,and in favor of acceded members to exercise their rights.With the method of comparative analysis and case analysis, the dissertation strives to demonstrate that China’s AP can be applied in DSB, and China can apply exception clauses in WTO agreements to relief the obligations in China’s AP, and China can even make use of amendment clauses in WTO agreements to abolish the unreasonable clauses in China’s AP. In general, the key point is to analysis the legal status of AP in WTO.The dissertation consists of four chapters in detail:Chapter One, Applicable Law in WTO Dispute Settlement Body, is the prerequisite and foundation of the whole dissertation. It deals with the applicable law in DSB, that is, whether the laws applied in DSB are limited or not. Chapter Two, China’s Accession Protocol Analysis, is devoted to revealing the particularities of the clauses in China’s AP. Although laws applied in different cases are different, the laws are universal to all parties. But China’s AP is a specific document, thus leading to the special situations in the process of dispute settlement for China. So it is urgent and necessary to find out the legal status of China’s AP in WTO. It is concluded in Chapter One that AP is not applicable in DSB, but the practice of DSB never raise doubt about the application of AP. So Chapter Three, The Practice and Conception of the Application of China’s Accession Protocol in WTO Dispute Settlement Body, introduces how DSB applies AP in practice and some scholars’ conceptions. Chapter Four, Relationship Between China’s Accession Protocol and WTO Agreement, is based on the analysis of the practice and conceptions, explores the integration of AP into WTO Agreement. It explains the meanings of "integral part" and"WTO Agreement", and finally finds out the legal status of China’s AP in WTO.